


Never Meet Your Heroes

by JustinTimberlake



Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27438502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustinTimberlake/pseuds/JustinTimberlake
Summary: Sergio Reguilón swears, from the age of six, that all he wants to do is be a Real Madrid legend like his hero Zinedine Zidane.Somewhere along the way, his priorities change a little bit.
Relationships: Sergio Reguilón/Harry Kane
Comments: 14
Kudos: 43





	Never Meet Your Heroes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dierdele](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dierdele/gifts).



The trip from Madrid to Scotland had taken hours, and more than anything, Sergio wants a nap. He tugs on his dad’s coat, pouting. It’s freezing in Glasgow, and Sergio lost one of his gloves on the bus from the airport. His dad ruffles his hair and gets him a hot chocolate, excitedly telling him all about their Champions League journey so far.

Sergio’s mum had been against Sergio making the trip with his dad, pointing out that Sergio doesn’t even particularly like football, but his dad had argued that that’s exactly why he  _ had  _ to come. What better way to fall in love with the beautiful game than to come and see the Champions League final? 

Sergio wasn’t really too bothered about coming, but he does get the day off school tomorrow, so he’s happy about that. And now that he’s here, even though he’s cold and tired, he’s fascinated by the whole experience. There’s a strange sort of excited energy in the air, an energy he’s never felt before, the closest experience being the Friday before the school holidays. 

They take their seats in Hampden Park, and Sergio gasps at how many people there are inside the stadium. Everyone’s chanting, and Sergio isn’t even sure what they’re saying, but he feels like he wants to join in. He can feel his left leg shaking, like it always does when he’s a little excited, and he giggles when he looks up and sees the men sitting behind them with their faces painted blue and white. 

“Dad, look!” he laughs, pointing at them. “They have face paint!”

The men behind them laugh and say hello, offering to paint Sergio’s face too. He bounces up and down in his seat, nodding and grinning, and within a few minutes, half of Sergio’s face is painted blue too. The excitement is building in the stadium like a fever pitch, and it’s building inside of Sergio too. 

The game kicks off with a loud whistle, and Sergio can’t really follow what’s going on, but he gets to grips with the basics. They want the men in white to score into the goal, and they don’t want the men in red to score into the other goal. They’re sat close enough to the pitch that Sergio can see some of their faces, and he can see the exact moment that Zidane volleys the ball into the net, and watches with fascination the way the team celebrate together. He’s transfixed when Zidane runs over to the crowd, and everyone around him is screaming and chanting, and he feels himself being jostled around a bit, but he feels like he’s part of it, and he even tries to chant a little too, earning himself a few fond smiles from the people around him.

The game doesn’t get any more exciting than that until the final whistle.

Sergio clutches his dad’s hand.

“DAD!” he gasps. “Did we win?” 

Before Sergio can even finish, the screams and cheers erupt around the stadium, and in the pandemonium, Sergio gets knocked to the ground. He’s crying, and everyone is cheering, and his head hurts and he’s scared, but then he feels his dad pick him up and he’s smiling as he checks him over.

“Sergie…” he grins, “We’ve won!”

“We...won?” Sergio tries to process the information, and looks around at the ground all chanting Zizou, and feels overwhelmed with emotion. He looks down at the pitch where the players are all celebrating, and Zidane knee slides towards the crowd, and Sergio clutches his dad tighter and smiles back. 

For the past week, he’s been telling his friends at school that he wants to be a singer like Enrique Iglesias. The week before, he’d wanted to be a politician, just like Aznar, and the week before that he’d wanted to be an astronaut. But from this moment forward, he wants to be a footballer. Just like Zidane. 

\---

A few years later, Sergio joins the Real Madrid youth team, and can’t contain his excitement. He’s convinced with childlike certainty that he’s going to meet his hero and that he’s going to be able to tell him that he’s the reason he wants to be a footballer, and maybe Zidane will even want a kick around with him.

Of course, that doesn’t happen, and Zidane retires from professional football only a year after Sergio begins his own footballing career. He’s disappointed, but he’s undeterred. He’s still going to work hard to become a Real Madrid hero, just like Zidane.

\---

Sergio still wants to be just like Zidane, but now he’s older, there’s someone else he looks up to as well. 

Sergio doesn’t have a game or training today, so he’s allowed to go and watch the Copa del Rey final as a spectator. Like the Champions League final twelve years before, he and his dad make the trip. Unlike that trip, though, it’s nice and warm, and Sergio isn’t as exhausted. Valencia is a lot closer than Glasgow, after all. 

The atmosphere is just as electric, maybe more so, and Sergio paints his face for old times sake. When his dad sees it, he picks him up as easily at eighteen as he did when he was six, laughing out loud when Sergio giggles and struggles, telling his dad to put him down.

When Real take an early lead, the chants from the crowd are just as deafening as the grunts of disappointment when Barcelona equalise in the second half, and Sergio’s left leg is bouncing again when it comes to the eighty minute mark. It doesn’t look like there’s any chance Real are going to score the winner, there’s been barely any attempts on goal, and, if anything, Barcelona look a little more dangerous. 

He’s almost resigned to Real throwing this away when Gareth Bale starts sprinting past Bartra, running off the field and back on again. Sergio feels his breath catch in his throat, and everything goes very quiet and very loud at the same time. He’s watching Bale’s movements with a laserlike focus, watching as he dances around defenders, watching as Bale looks up one last time at the net, watching as Bale draws back his left foot and watching as Bale strikes the ball powerfully past the goalkeeper. 

The part he watches most intently, though, is Zidane running onto the pitch at the end to hug Bale. Sergio feels something stirring in his gut, something he can’t explain, but the same thing he’d felt when he watched his first match twelve years ago. 

He wants to be just like Gareth Bale. 

\---

Sergio has been hearing whispers about himself over the past few months, some about transfers, some about loans, and some about being promoted to the senior team. He hopes beyond hope he’s being promoted, and he finds himself dreaming about it at night, dreaming about finally playing for his club that he cherishes so much. Being able to be just like his heroes, playing alongside Bale, under the management of Zidane. 

When he’s told that he has a meeting with management, he’s trembling with excitement. He wonders if Zidane will be there himself. Wonders if he will promote him, telling him how impressed they’ve been with him, how they’re willing to give him a chance. 

Zidane isn’t there, and Sergio isn’t being promoted. He’s being sent to Logrones on loan, and while that isn’t the worst case scenario, it still makes Sergio’s heart sink, and that night, he tears up a little before he goes to sleep. 

\---

His two years at Logrones have done him good, and he feels like a much better player for it. The feeling of qualifying for the Copa del Rey was incredible, and he wonders if he personally has done enough to impress Real Madrid. He wonders if they will want him back.

He waits with bated breath for a phonecall, and when he eventually gets one, he is ecstatic,, but a small part of him is a little sad. He will miss his friends at Logrones, and the fans who love him so much and are so enthusiastic and positive compared to fans of bigger teams who can sometimes be much more negative.

The sadness quickly melts away, though, when the reality of the situation settles in. He’s going back to Madrid to prove himself in front of two of his all-time heroes. He’s got the chance to be just like them, to be a hero to other young boys like they were to him, and he’s going to seize it with both hands.

\---

It doesn’t exactly pan out as he’d hoped. 

Zidane is no longer the manager of Real Madrid, so Sergio feels robbed of his chance to meet him, but he still wants to try his hardest to impress the new manager and to earn his place in Real Madrid history.

His Champions League debut, though, leads to a loss, and it’s another month until he gets a chance to debut in La Liga. He feels like he’s slowly, steadily getting better, and that he’s earning his place in the starting lineup. 

He’s on the pitch when Gareth Bale scores his 100th goal for Real Madrid against Atletico Madrid, and he’s in the changing rooms celebrating with the team after, and it feels like a dream. He’s hurting a little, massaging his ankle and hopping to the physio to get an ice pack, when Bale claps a hand on his shoulder when he passes by.

“Good game,” Bale smiles, and Sergio feels a bit light on air. He feels himself blushing a little bit, but by the time he’s ready to reply, Bale has gone.

He tries after that to try and talk to Bale more, but Bale doesn’t speak enough Spanish, and Sergio doesn’t speak enough English, so their conversations are mostly relegated to football remarks and the smallest of small talk.

He does, however, feel like he’s starting to impress the Real Madrid hierarchy, and he’s given more chances towards the end of the season, and he feels settled in the club.

\---

It comes as a surprise when he finds out in the Summer that not only is Zidane back, but that he wants to meet with him. 

He’s not trembling like he did as a teenager, but he bites his lip with a bit of nervous excitement still. He’s not going to tell Zidane he’s his hero, of course not, but he wonders if it will come out anyway. He doesn’t exactly have a good poker face. 

His mum always tells him he wears his heart on his sleeve, and gives him a little kiss on the arm every time she says it. He used to shrug her off, but he’s started letting her do it more now, because he sees how her face lights up when he kisses her back on the cheek. He loves making his mum happy. 

He remembers one of the phrases his mum always says as he’s waiting: that you should never meet your heroes, because they will only disappoint you. 

He has never taken her on, because it’s something he just can’t comprehend. How can your heroes disappoint you? Sure, Gareth Bale is less of the best friend he’d hoped he would be and is more just a begrudging acquaintance and teammate, but he didn’t  _ disappoint  _ him. And he’s sure that Zidane won’t either.

\---

An hour later, he realises his mum is right.

Zidane barely looked at him throughout the meeting, and even though he was saying all the right things about Sergio showing promise and how his loan to Sevilla will just aid his development, there was something about the air of finality to the way that Zidane said goodbye that made Sergio feel like it was a goodbye for good. 

He didn’t know what to expect from the meeting with Zidane. He knew it was never going to be the meeting of his dreams, but he didn’t expect it to feel so...cold. Like Zidane wasn’t bothered about what he meant to Sergio, and didn’t have any time for him whatsoever. Sergio hangs his head, knowing he probably doesn’t warrant any of his time, but it hurts regardless.

He agrees to the loan, because of course he does, but while his agent sorts out his loan move and helps him pick out a place to stay in Sevilla, Sergio goes home and lets himself cry a little over the consolation churros his mum has made for him. 

\---

Sevilla is an amazing experience, and he loves the club so much, loves the fans, loves the team, and he loves the feeling of  _ winning. _ Lifting the Europa League trophy, fans cheering as he does, makes him feel like nothing else has before. 

A part of him would consider accepting a permanent deal to move here, but he knows his ambitions deep down are deeper than that, that he wants to be the best he can possibly be, for a world class team. He wants to be a hero.

When he hears about Tottenham, he is intrigued. Jose Mourinho, Harry Kane, Hugo Lloris - all big names, heroes in their own way and in their own worlds, and the Premier League, and  _ London,  _ and the stadium - it all seems too good to be true. And then Gareth is added into the mix, and it’s all crazy and exciting. Exciting enough for Sergio to forget for a little while that his boyhood club and his footballing hero still don’t want him.

\---

Gareth seems palpably excited about going back to Tottenham, and they’re on the plane together for a few hours, so Sergio figures they may as well talk about it. He’s not sure Gareth’s Spanish has gotten any better, but he’s been working on his English and he thinks he can hold his own in a conversation now.

He’s also much more confident now. He doesn’t feel like the little boy trying to prove himself anymore, even though, by all rights, he is still young and not established at all. But he feels more settled in himself, more confident in his own ability, and better at socialising with other players. 

“Tottenham, hey?” Sergio starts, “You were there a long time ago.”

Gareth looks up from his iPad.

“Yeah,” he says with a little grin. “It’s great. You’re going to love it.”

“More than Madrid?” Sergio questions, genuinely curious.

“Definitely more than Madrid.” Bale says firmly.

Sergio’s seen all of the reports about Bale’s lack of happiness in Madrid, knows that everyone links it to Zidane, and, worst of all, knows that he believes it. He wonders if that’s the only reason Bale left, the push from Madrid and Zidane, or if it was also the pull of Tottenham, of going back home. 

They chat a little more on the journey, about Mourinho, about Tottenham, and both of them have an unspoken agreement to not speak about Madrid, to look toward the future, not to the past.

\---

The next few days are a blur of media interviews and introductions, photographs and videos, tours and house viewings and Sergio barely has time to talk to his family and friends. When he does have any free time, he tends to scroll Twitter and see what the Spurs fans are saying about him, which makes him smile, or he goes on YouTube and looks at some Spurs highlights to try and get even more of a feel for the club he is joining. 

Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen, Hugo Lloris, Jan Vertonghen, they’re all names that come up again and again, and somehow, Sergio finds himself watching Harry Kane highlights at 2 AM when he should be getting an early night. It’s actually a little embarrassing, and he shakes his head at himself and burrows under the covers, slamming his laptop screen shut. 

He tells himself as he falls asleep that he can’t do this again, that he can’t have a hero again, because he will just be disappointed when they just end up acquaintances. Or at least, he hopes they’ll make it to that. Surely Harry won’t dislike him as much as Zidane does. He clutches the covers closer to himself and falls asleep dreaming about training the next day.

\---

Sergio’s first week at Tottenham is one of the best weeks in his footballing career. 

Jose Mourinho,  _ the  _ Jose Mourinho, praises him, telling him in a meeting that he thinks he can make Sergio into the world’s best left-back, and gets him right into the starting eleven for the London derby cup tie. He is so desperate to impress that he makes mistakes, but Dier and Alderweireld offer him advice, telling him to calm down and that he’s doing great.

Sergio does calm down, at least a little, and when he assists Erik Lamela later, Dier pats him on the head and grins at him, Mourinho shouts “Bravo Regui!” from the sidelines and Harry Kane hugs him tightly, squeezing his neck and patting his hair. Sergio hugs him back just as tightly, hugs Eric and hugs Toby and hugs Lamela and Aurier and Ndombele, and he hugs them all again when they advance on penalties, excited as if they’ve just won a trophy, feeling the love and happiness from everyone and giving it right back in spades. 

The dressing room is raucous after, from everyone teasing Eric about his toilet break to Aurier challenging everyone to a dance off, and Sergio laughs and laughs and laughs and starts to realise why Gareth was so excited to come back. Already, he feels practically at home.

\---

The week only gets better from there.

It starts with getting to know everyone better in training, and realising that everyone here is receptive to hugs. As soon as he has this realisation, he uses it to his advantage as much as he possibly can. He blocks Dele in a 1v1 and gives him a cuddle after, Dele rolling his eyes but reciprocating, then he assists Son in their training match and he hugs him too, then he starts to just hug people for no reason to see how they react.

Harry Winks is Sergio’s first test subject, seeing how affectionate “Winksy” is with other members of the team like Dier and Dele, and figuring if anyone won’t mind, he won’t. So Sergio runs over before they go in for lunch and gives Winks a cuddle. Winks hugs him back, even if he looks a little bewildered, and Sergio grins at him as he runs back into the changing rooms, ready to test it out on everyone else now, too.

It works on Eric Dier, who laughs a little but squeezes him tightly, and it works on Hojbjerg, who smiles widely and starts speaking nonsense with a Spanish accent to him, eventually declaring “Te amo!” to Sergio’s utter delight. 

“Te amo, Pierre!” he beams, full of excited energy. 

He is so, so,  _ so _ happy to be here. He wonders if this is what it feels like to be in love. 

The hug works on Joe Hart, who pats his head like he’s a small child, and it works on Serge Aurier, who hugs him back and then starts teasing him almost immediately for how he had said “come you Spurs” in his announcement video. 

Most importantly, though, the hug works on Harry Kane.

Sergio walks over to him after crossing practice, after Harry has just provided a spectacular finish for their team in training, giving them the win. He isn’t even thinking about the hug at first, and just walks towards Harry with his hand outstretched, shaking Harry’s hand.

“Good crosses there,” Harry remarks. “Looking forward to you putting some more on the plate for me this season.”

Harry is still shaking his hand, and Sergio doesn’t want to be the one to end it, so he continues to shake his hand too.

“I hope to do that,” Sergio says slowly, trying to make sure his English is perfect. “It would be an honour.”

Harry looks at him curiously and huffs out a little laugh, but Sergio stares back at him sincerely. He wants Harry to know he’s serious, that it would be an honour to assist him in real games. That it’s an honour to be here working with him. 

Harry smiles, but then he lets go of Sergio’s hand and looks like he’s going to walk away, and Sergio thinks maybe he took it too far, was a bit too enthusiastic, and he’s about to apologise or something but then Harry looks back at him and puts his arm around Sergio’s shoulders, letting Sergio cuddle back up to him, both arms around his waist. 

He tries to convince himself not to put Harry Kane on a pedestal, tries to tell himself that he’s too old for that sort of hero worship anyway, and tries to tell himself that’s the only reason his heart feels like it’s beating out of his chest. 

He’s not too sure it’s working though.

\---

Not hero-worshipping Harry Kane just gets harder as the week goes on, when he watches Harry bag a hat-trick against Maccabi Haifa wearing the Captain armband, watches how the team all respect him so much, and watches as Harry sagely gives his shirt to the guy from the other team, Fani, who’d been mocking him just the other week. There’s something about Harry’s icy smile as he gives Fani his shirt unprompted, still carrying the match ball, that makes Sergio’s insides twist.

Between seeing Harry assist and score twice against Manchester United at Old Trafford, and holding his breath as Harry sits next to him on the coach on the way home, Sergio is increasingly starting to feel like he can’t escape these feelings, whatever they are. And that maybe he needs to start figuring out exactly  _ what _ they are, because it feels a little different to Bale, and a lot different to Zidane. 

\---

After the disappointing draw with West Ham, he sees a different side to Harry Kane, but he admires him just the same. Harry insists to the team that their mentality needs to be better, that they need to all be better, and Sergio hangs his head in agreement, feeling chastened. While he’s not one of the ones being singled out for an individual error leading to a goal, he knows that it’s a team effort, and that the team as a whole needs to be better at defending a lead, and that includes himself.

The next day in training, they are drilled hard by Jose, and he is unforgiving when anyone makes an error. He’s particularly hard on the defence, and at the end of the training session Sergio is absolutely exhausted. He sits down on the grass and shivers, still not used to the English weather, and he jumps when a barrage of bright orange bibs land on his head. 

He is stunned for a second, but then he starts laughing as he fights his way through the sea of orange to see Sonny and Serge running away giggling, chucking the box back at him and leaving Sergio to pack the bibs back up himself. He laughs and curses after them in Spanish, and dutifully starts putting them away, chucking them into the box.

Behind him, someone clears their throat.

“Don’t know how to fold, Regui?” Harry teases.

“My mum does it for me,” he jokes back, and Harry holds out a hand to help him up. 

“How are you feeling? That looked rough.”

Sergio shrugs. 

“It was okay,” he smiles. “It was hard, but - but it feels good. A good ache.”

Harry smiles.

“Yeah,” he agrees. “I know what you mean. When I was starting out I used to train for hours after everyone went home, just to feel the burn.” He scratches the back of his neck. “Can’t do that much anymore though,” he says wryly. “I’d get injured.”

“You’d train for hours on your own?” Sergio asks, eyes widening.

“Yeah,” Harry nods as if it’s no big deal. “I got another place nearby so that I wasn’t getting home as late. I just really wanted to improve myself, you know? Wanted to give one hundred and ten percent. I’ve always wanted that. To be the best I can possibly be.”

Sergio can’t believe it, but at the same time he can. Of course someone like Harry Kane would be that incredibly dedicated, blessed with inherent talent and having the best work ethic he thinks football has ever seen.

He finds himself wanting to get another place nearby, wanting to be the first one to arrive and the last one to leave, wanting so desperately to be even a fraction of Harry Kane. He’s on the verge of handing Harry the box of bibs and running back so that he can carry on training on his own, when Harry takes the box from him anyway.

Harry seems to notice the cogs spinning in his mind. 

“Don’t,” he smiles, “You’ve done enough today.”

“But -” Sergio protests, and Harry puts the box down on the bench to give Sergio a little hug.

“You’ve done enough,” he repeats. “You did well.” 

Sergio breathes Harry in deeply, letting his forehead rest against Harry’s chest, and the hug is over too soon for Sergio to be able to clutch onto Harry’s waist like he really wants to. He settles instead for following closely behind him, sitting next to him in the changing rooms and choosing the shower next to his. 

In any other situation, he’d be embarrassed at following someone around like that, but Harry doesn’t seem to mind. 

When Sergio gets home that night, he scrolls Twitter again and finds the video of him and Harry hugging in training. He watches it over and over again, smile growing every time he watches the replay. He presses the like button and hopes that Harry will somehow see it too.

\---

He realises just how far he’s gone for Harry Kane when in the Brighton game, Sergio assists Gareth Bale and Gareth comes over to hug him, yet all Sergio is focused on is Harry running towards them. His arms are occupied, and all he can do is grip Harry’s shirt when he approaches, keeping him close as he tightens his grip. 

After the game, Jose tells them they can have tomorrow morning off, but that he expects them to be in at one o’clock for a tactical meeting. Sergio nods and makes his way to his car, exhausted and needing a good night’s sleep. He thinks he might even treat himself to a hot chocolate tonight, and a warm bath. As soon as he imagines it, he’s convinced himself, and he’s so excited to get home that he picks up the pace a little in the car park, even progressing to a light jog. He hears someone shout and laugh behind him, but he doesn’t turn around immediately.

“Regui!” he hears, and he finally slows and turns around. 

Harry’s strolling towards him, shaking his head.

“The game’s over,” he teases. “You shouldn’t be jogging right now.”

Sergio ducks his head bashfully.

“I’m just excited to get home.”

“Oh yeah?” Harry asks with interest. “Any big plans?” 

Sergio doesn’t know how to tell him that his big plans are getting in the bath and having a hot chocolate, so he just shakes his head. 

“Well,” Harry smiles. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Good game today, Regui.” 

He embraces Sergio, and Sergio feels himself sagging against him, tucking his head into Harry’s chest. 

Harry lets go and moves toward his own car, but Sergio stops him.

“You wanna meet me for early training?” he blurts, and Harry considers him for a minute.

“We should rest…” he eyes Sergio with his eyebrow raised, and Sergio nods, accepting the rejection. Harry’s right, really, they shouldn’t over exert themselves with so many games coming up. He needs to be sensible, more like Harry, he thinks, but then Harry smiles. “I’ll pick you up at eleven. We can go for lunch instead.”

Sergio is nodding before he can even process the words.

“It’s -” he stutters, grinning. “It’s a date!” 

Harry laughs.

“It’s a date.”

\---

At the end of the season, there’s lots of buzz about him going back to Madrid, about how Zidane wants him back. Everyone expects him to agree automatically, even his mum and dad. A journalist has picked up an old interview where Sergio said he wants to follow in Zidane’s footsteps and be a Real Madrid legend like his hero Zidane.

They ask him if he would go back to join his hero when he calls, and Sergio gives the placid answer that he’s happy at Tottenham, that he will always love Madrid, and that he doesn’t know what the future holds, but inside he knows the truth.

Zidane isn’t his hero anymore. 

He doesn’t want to be like Zidane. He doesn’t want to be a Real Madrid club legend.

He looks down at his thighs, where under the jeans he knows Harry’s lovebites are marking his skin, and he smiles despite himself. He thinks about how much he’s improved in their extra long training sessions, about how Harry has made him a more dedicated footballer, a more professional athlete in general, and how Harry’s cuddles and kisses make him feel so  _ alive, _ more alive than football ever has. 

He doesn’t care about Zidane.

He wants to be like his hero, Harry Kane. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure if anyone will even read this!!! But I hope you guys like it as much as I liked writing it ❤️ I don't have Tumblr anymore so if you liked it or wanna discuss it make sure you leave a comment thank you xxx


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